"Nigga Please" (N Plz) is Ol' Dirty Bastard's (ODB) sophomore and final studio album. It is simultaneously his most forgotten and quintessential work. In death he's remembered for “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” and his mid to late 90's antics. The Kelis-featured, and Neptunes produced, “Got Your Money” was ODB's greatest Billboard success, but the album that contained it is not on his short list. It's probably overshadowed by it's proximity to his decline into drugs and death. But it should be celebrated for how brightly he was captured before he burned out.

I'm late to everything pre 2010, so it's no surprise that my discovery of this album is a story of my lateness. In 2007 when I moved in with our fearless Cult$ leader, Dan Coughlin, I was a rap fan, but as a white guy from the Midwest I did not have the nuts to say that out loud. Poor me right? In week three of our friendship I drove us somewhere and Dan found one of the CD books that I had filled between 2001 and 2007 when I was flush with Navy cash and devoid of any self knowledge. So I was in full on panic attack as he flipped through the pages waiting for my much more music knowledgeable roommate to start flaming me from my passenger seat. Instead he pulled out N Plz and told me to put on track seven, “You Don't Want To Fuck With Me.” Driving along with it blaring out the windows in the Indian summer of Wisconsin I found rap bliss. Up to that point I had been merely dipping my toes in the rap waters. That afternoon ODB became my rap spirit animal and I accepted that the things we love in life can defy all logic. Once I knew that Dirt McGirt was my favorite rapper, the absurdity of it blew the hinges off reality and allowed me to embrace my new freedom. I was reborn in the glow of Big Baby Jesus.

Play “I Can't Wait” loud in your car and deny it's joy. For those who can't, I'm sorry you're broken. For the rest of you let's break it down. The intro is the hook and it's just “Big Baby Jesus I can't wait / ni**a fuck, that I can't wait” repeated unitl it is all that your mind can accept and trust. The sample that plays on a short loop over a deep kick drum is from the TJ Hooker theme song, and it sounds like the music played when news breaks out in old episodes of Batman and the newspaper cover stories come spinning onto the screen. It's intense, insane, and would be ill advised for any song without ODB. He raps, “Cause your body goes against you / Whether it's a lie or whether it's true / You can't use violent mentalities anymore / It ain't lambskin / You can't use the word napkin." Which rivals any lyric from any song ever. Because you know why. And if I have to explain it to you you won't understand. This is quantum physics, scatalogical humor, and blood sport, it defies logic. And if you aren't on board at this point in the song then you won't enjoy the almost minute and a half of shoutouts at the end that are the pinnacle of this album. Fortunately the written version of them still contains some of the magic, so when you don't click the YouTube link above, or download N Plz and play it real loud in your car on your way home, you'll still have experienced a fraction of what I'm trying to convey:

I want to give a shoutout to FunkMaster FlexAnd all the DJs across the worldI want to give a shoutout to my nigga LukeI want to give a shoutout to my nigga Suge KnightTo my nigga Dr. Dre, Snoop DoggI want to give a shoutout to um,um, what's them niggas,OutkastI want to give a shoutout to them crazy niggasIn parts of the world that I never been tooI want to give a shoutout to the EskimosI want to give a shoutout to the submarinesI want to give a shoutout to the army, air force, navy marinesKNow what I'm saying? Y'all playing my musicIn the submarines and the boatsPlay that shit know what I'm saying?It's called travelling music busting ya ass styleYo Big Baby JesusIt's One LoveI give a shout out to all the womenI give a shout out to all the babiesAll the munchkinsAll across the world playin' hopskotchI want to give a shoutout to all the school teachersI give a shout out to um,um, myself

At the end he says “Ummmmm, um, Myselffffff.” A brief pause to think of what's next played up for effect, and then the punchline.... “Myself!”. There's genius in every lilting phrase, and mumble. Not Kanye or Kendrick style genius where it's thought out and gone over and over, but pure id mainlined into the microphone.

ODB created a style of rap unique to him while rap itself was still maturing. It's not something he did because he saw an audience for it. He just had things to express, and the balls to express them how he wanted, and the product happened to be compelling as shit. He's talking about eating butt, and girls being aroused by his smelly armpits at the same time that “conscious” rappers are talking about how much they hate homosexuals. To be that different in a culture that tends to hate “weirdo shit” and not just be allowed but embraced is a testament to the rarity of his talent. It's safe to say that Yeezus, Future, Young Thug, Mystikal, and a hundred other unique voices in rap would not exist if GZA and RZA hadn't had a wild ass cousin who didn't know how to follow directions. Based on his legal and substance abuse issues I assume ODB struggled with depression or other demons. He was the sad clown, like Chris Farley. He embraced the duality of life. That it was miserable and blissful simultaneously, so there was nothing to do but dance loudly as the thin ice gave way beneath him. That's what I get from him as my rap spirit animal. Everything is absurd, so if you're coloring inside the lines you're wasting your time.

This album has everything. Party anthems, rough Wu-Tang anthems with gang rapped chorus's, ballads, storytelling, outrage, pop, and Chris Rock skits. It's his last album but instead of being a record of his downfall it's an all encompassing picture of his genius. It's also hilarious, and it'll piss off basically anyone you play it for at some point. I cannot encourage you enough to not just listen to it, but give it a shot. Embrace it on it's own terms and you will be rewarded.